Truck mix meter for tiltable trucks



Sept; 22, 1931. VJ. F. ROBB 1,824,625

TRUCK MIX METER FOR TILTABLE TRUCKS Filed May 2, 1930 2 Sheets-Sheet l v4-7 3mm, 6 John If Robb.

p 2 1931- J. F. ROBB TRUCK IIX METER FOR TILTABLEJRUCKS Filed May 2,,1930 2 Sheets-Shut 2 Jmmloc John Robb.

Patented Sept. 22,1931 1,824,625

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE 1cm: I. B033, CLEVELAND HEIGHTS, OHIO,ASSIGIII'OB TO KOIKBING OOIPL'IY, OI IILWAUKII, WISCONSIN, A CORPORATIONTHUG! in: mm FOB TIL'I'ABLE TRUCKS Application filed Kay 2, 1880. SerialNo. 448,800.

Object of invention What are commonly called truck mixers are being usedtoday to transport concrete which has been previously mixed at a centralmixing plant, to a place of deposit for use; such mixers are likewiseused to transport aggre ates of the concrete mix, in unmixed con ition,to the place of use; and mixers of this same general type are used totrans rt roperly mixed aggregates of the hate and the mixing element ordrum is maintained in slow rotation to merely keep the materialsproperly agitated to prevent premature settlement or segregation thereofin transit.

My present invention embodies certain control mechanism suitable forsuch types of truck mixers wherein the mixing drum which under someconditions may be merely a transporting drum or a slow agitating drum,is tilted in order that it may be emptied of the batch of concreteaggregates at the proper site where the batch '18 to be emplaced. Thesaid control instrumentaL ities involve a timing device desi ed toinsure that the aggregates are retained by the mixindrum when the drumis employed as t e reliminary mixing means and receives more y measuredquantities of aggregates. The invention includes also a revolutioncountin counter the function of which is to detfiiitely in icate thenumber of revolutions which the drum has-made in transit or even whenthe truck is stationary, this bei desirable where specifications reuirea efinite amount of rotation of the rum to obtain a mixture of re rintegrity. The indicating counter or t e revolutions of the drum.1s alsoadvan us where alread the drum am; are being transported, so that thereceiver will know that during the transorting movement of the truck thedrum has been rotated a certain number of revolutions by which thecontents thereof are kept properly agitated to prevent the segregationor settlement within the drum that would destroy the homogeneousness ofthe mix.

mixed aggregates are within In the drawings-- Figure 1 is asideelevation of a truck embodyin the invention. Figure 2 is a fragmentaryside view showing more particularly the control mecha IllSIIl alone.

Figure 3 is a fragmentary top plan view showing more clearly theconnection between the water valve arm and the actuating slide therefor,including a vertical lever.

Figure 4 is a side elevational view of the pai ts of Figure 3. f r

i re 5 is a re enta rsgcti e view iif the batchmet e i' settiiig fha andgearing.

Figure 6 is a detail fragmentary view of the internal counter mechanismfor the revolution counting operation. Operation and comtmction of theBy describing the operation of my invention and referring to the variousparts, the construction thereof will become readily apparent. It willfirst be noted that the truck mixer illustrated may be of anyconventional type wherein is employed the main'truck 1, the cab 2 forthe driver, the wheels 8, the rear ones of which only are shown, an enine driven shaft or power device 4 suitab y geared to be operated fromthe engine WhlCh propels the truck, and connected by the usual universaljoint 5 with the rear section 4a leading to the difierential at the rearaxle of the vehicle.

A counter shaft 6 is arranged parallel with the engine shaft 4 which isconnected by any suitable gearing with the counter shaft 6, the gearingbein disposed in the casing 7.

Upon the truck me 1 is carried a drum 8 which is pivoted at its rear andat 9 so that it may be tilted upwardly by the use of a hydraulic hoist10 with suitable cable connections ll'leadin jecting downwardl from t 0bottom 0 the drum frame 13 at its front end. The drum frame 13 directlysupports the drum 8 and the pivot connection 9 is between the frame 1and the drum frame 13.

The operation of elevating the front end of the drum 8 to discharge it.is well known toarms12 ro-- ries a water tankl5.

I Trester patent. I utilize for the to which the truck mixer may be put.

This brings me to the control instrumentalities which are the principalfeatures of my invention.

It will be observed that I employ a drum rotating shaft 16 adapted to beconnected by a clutch 17 at its front end with a clutch 18 of a driveshaft 19 which is normally driven by sprocket and chain connection 20leading to the shaft 6, which shaft it will 20 be remembered is drivenfrom the engine shaft 4.

I utilize, suitably supported by the main truck frame 1 as by means of avertical bracket 21, a timing device in the nature of a batchmeter whichis fully described in the Letters Patent of Trester, No. 1,532,277,dated April 7th, 1925. This batchmeter in the present construction isdriven or operated by being geared to the drum drive shaft 16 as by asprocket chain 22, see Figure 2, instead of being driven directly fromthe mixing drum itself as shown in the purpose of clutching the drumrotating sha t 16 to the engine driven shaft 19, a main control lever 23adapted to be locked in adjusted positions by the usual latch means 24,and

, notchsegment 25, If a water tank 15 is used on my machine I providethe arrangementshown in Figures 2 and 4 to best advantage to establishan interlock between the water tank and the lever 23 so that the lever23 may not be operated to cause rotation of the drum 8 for mixing untilthe water tank has discharged its liquid contents into the mixing drum.With the above in mind, it will be observed that the tank 15 isyieldably supported by brackets 15 and 15" upon the main bracket 14 atthe front of the drum 8, a spring 26 being adapted to move the tank 15upwards after the water in the tank.

has been discharged. As seen in Fj rel, the spring 26 is compressedbecause t e tank 15 contains a supply of water'ifora mixing .2operation. It will be seen ftha't the lower bracket 15' has a (put r61rod 27 extending laterally and downwardl with its lower end'in thepathof'a lock ug 28 on the axis portion of the lever 23. The lever 23 ispro- //6G vided with an arm 29 which is connected 30 is to engage thelower end ofthe valve operating lever 34 which works the valve arm 35 toopen and close the valve in the pipe 36 leading from the tank 15 in themixing drum 8. This opening of the valve member is accomplished by thepreliminary movement of the lever 23 and until the water in the tankpasses'into the drum 8 ready to be mixed with the aggregates in thedrum, the lever 23 cannot be moved downwards other than to that extentto cause the water to be supplied to the drum 8 because the locking lug28 will engage the rod 27. However, when the water has been emptied fromthe tank 15 into the drum 8, the spring 26 lifts the tank 15,disengaging the rod 27 from the lug 28 and rendering the lever 23 freeto be further moved to now connect the drum 8 to be rotated fromthe-engine driven shaft 19. By this last operation of the lever 23 tostart the rotation of the mixer 8, the timing device generally indi-"The mixing drum 8 is thus started into rotation and at the same time asthis action is performed, the downward movement of the plunger 37carries down with it the L-shaped actuating slide 39, see Figure 2, andFi ure 5. The setting of the timing device into operation is done insubstantially the same manner as presented in the Trester patent aboveidentified, the slide 39 having teeth 40 meshed with a one-wayactuated'pinion 41, see Figure 5, which pinion is loose on a shaft 42having a drlven pinion 48 meshing with the teeth of a slide 44 whichconnects with the settin rod 45 of the timing device or batchmeter Inthis way when the L-shaped slide 39 is carried down, the shaft 42 isturned and raises the slide 44 and the rod 45 and sets the batchmeterinto action.

Now it must be understood that theremust be send. lockin control toprevent the o eratgiofi of the hy raulic hoist 10 to tilt an dischargethe mixing drum .8, when the said drum 8 is performing its completemixing cycle or period of operation, necessary to insure a proper mixingof the aggregates. Thus I provide under the control of the batchmeter Aand particularly its setting rod 45 a lock member 46 which engages thevalve lever 47 that controls the admission of the pressure medium to thecylinder of the hoist 10 for actuating the cable 11 to raise and tiltthe mixer 8. So long as the batchmeter is operating after having beenset into action, the valve lever 47 is locked so thato erator cannotcause a tilting discharge of t e mixer. When the batchmeter .fi nls hesits control cycle of operation, as presented in the Tres'ter patent, thesetting rod 45 moves downwardly by a release action and thereuponreleases the valve lever 47 so that 1t may be operated by the truck manto discharge the mixer 8.

It also should be observed in Fig. 5 that the pinion 43 is freelyrotatable on the shaft 42 and is providedwith a one-way acting dogclutch face 43. Splined to the shaft 42 and movable into and out ofengagement wlth the clutch face 43 of the pinion 43 is a clutch member43 which when in the osition shown establishes driving relation etweenthe shaft 42 and the pinion 43. A bell crank clutch shifter yoke 43engages the clutch 43, said yoke being pivotally supported on thestandard 43.

The long arm of the clutch shifter yoke 43 has an offset portion 43 andfinally terminutes in the resilient blade portion. 43

lying in the path of the two pins 44 projecting from the rack bar 44. Asnap-over spring 43' connects the offset portion 43 of the shifter yokeat one end and extends across the yoke pivot at one side thereof,connecting with the arm 43 projecting laterally from the standard 43.The lower pin 44 on the rack bar 44 engages the blade portion of theshifter yoke just after the rack bar 44 is raised by the downwardmovement of the rack 39 incident to the setting of the batchneter, andas the batchmeter 18 set the shifter yoke is moved to disengage theclutch members 43 and 43 to free the pinion 43 from operative connectionwith the shaft As the axis of the spring 43 passes the pivotal center ofthe shifter yoke 43, the spring assists in shiftin the yoke and alsoholds the clutch when sliifted in its respective positions.

Since the clutch is thrown out incident to the setting of thebatchmeter, the rack bar 44 is now free to drop down incident to therelease of the batchmeter at the end of the predetermined mixing period,as governed thereby. When this release takes place, the parts againshift to the position as shown in Fig. 1 which, due to the dropping ofthe latch bar, causes the clutch shiter yoke to be again moved to clutchengaging position to be subsequently actuated incident to movement ofthe rack bar 39.

The previous downward movement of the slide 39 caused a turning of theshaft 42 because the ratchet devices 48 and 49 were operative totransmit movement at that time from the slide 39 to the shaft 42, whichshaft carries the ratchet member 48 fixed thereto. When the lever 23 isreleased by controlling its latch 24, the spring 50 will force theplunger 37 upwards and disconnect, the clutch members 17 and 18 in aself-evident manner. The slide 30 is so interlocked with the valveoperating lever 34 that actuation In conjunction with my timingbatchmeter A, I utilize a batch counting register and indicator 51 whichis operated in substantially the manner of the Trester patent previouslyreferred to, and also a new revolution counter 52, a detail of which isseen best in Figure 6. The purpose of the revolution counter 52 is toenable a person who has received concrete delivered by the truck mixerto determine when the concrete arrives how many revolutions have beenperformed by the drum 8. This information is ofimportance both to thereceiver of the aggregates being delivered and to inspection servicewhere government, state, or other inspection is maintained. The counter52 is operated to count the revolutions by a gearing including shafts53,54, and 55 with intermediate bevel. gears leading to and connectingwith the operating [shaft 56' of the batchmeter. The ear ratios of thegearing just mentioned Wlll be such that the indicator or register 52will be operated to properly count the number of times the mixer 8rotates, the said gear ratios involving of course the said gears justmentioned and the sizes of the gears which drive the shaft 56 from theshaft 57 which is operated by the sprocket chain means 22 previouslyreferred to. Obviously, when the number of revolutions of the drum 8,for each batch, are

counted upon the indicator or register 52,

gates from the drum 8 should enable a restoration of the counting wheelsof the counter 52, to zero. For this purpose, every time the valve lever47 is operated to actuate the hoist l0 and discharge the drum 8, a rod58 connecting said lever tothe normalizing shaft of the counting wheelsof the register 52 will'cause zeroizing action of said shaft upon thesaid wheels. Of course it will be understood that the levers 23 and47may, if desired, extend into the cab 2 so as to be convenient to theoperator of the machine sitting in the cab, or rods ma lead from the cabto set these levers, enab ing them to be operated from the cab, as wellas directly from his position alongside the machine.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and desire tosecure by Letters Patent of the United States, is-

hoist connected with the rotate it, and lock means for the hoistcontrolled from the above mentioned device so that the hoist may not beoperated until said device has been actuated.

2. In control mechanism for truck mixers, in combination, a truck, amixing drum thereon adapted to be tilted to discharge, a hoist connectedwith the drum to discharge the same, a power shaft, a device forconnecting the power shaft with the drum to rotatiLZ-it, and lock meansfor the hoist controlled from the above mentioned device so that thehoist may not be operated untilsaid device has been actuated, includlnga timing device requiring a certain number of rotations of the drum tobe performed before the hoisting device is released from its lockdevice.

3. In control mechanism for truck mixers, in combination, a truck, amixing drum thereon adapted to be tilted to discharge, a hoist connectedwith the drum to discharge the same, a power shaft, a device forconnecting the power shaft with the drum to rotate it, and lock meansfor the hoist controlled from the above mentioned device so that thehoist may not be operated until said device has been actuated, includinga timing device requiring a certain number of rotations of the drum tobe performed before the hoisting device is released from its lockdevice, and a revolution counter included in said timing device toindicate the number of revolutions that have been performed by the drum.

4. In control mechanism for truck mixers, in combination, a truck amixing drum thereon adapted to be tilte. to discharge, a

,. hoist connected with the drum to discharge the same, a power shaft, adevice for connecting the power shaft with the drum to rotate it, lockmeans for the hoist controlled from the above mentioned device so thatthe hoist may not be operated until said device has been actuated,including a timing device requiring a certain number or rotations of thedrum to be performed before the hoisting device is released from itslock device, a revolution counter included in said timing device toindicate the number of revolutions that have been performed by the drum,and means to restore the said counter to zero operated incident to theoperation of the hoisting means.

5. In control mechanism for truck mixers, in combination, a truck, amixing drum thereon adapted to be tilted to discharge, a hoist connectedwith the drum to discharge the same, a power shaft, a device forconnecting the power shaft with the drum to rotate it, lock' means forthe hoist controlled from the above mentioned device so that the hoistmay not be operated until said device has been actuated, including atiming device requiring a certain number of rotations of the drum to beperformed before the hoisting device is released from its lock device, arevolution counter included in said timing device to indicate the numberof .the truck, driving means to drivingly connect the power means withthe drum to rotate it, means for tilting the drum to discharge it, andmeans for locking the said tilting means against use prior to theoperation of the means employed to drivingly connect the power meanswith the rotating means whereby rotation of the drum is compelled beforedischarging by tilting thereof is performed.

7. In a control mechanism for truck mixers, in combination, a truck, amixing drum thereon, hoist means for tilting the drum to discharge thesame, instrumentalities for op-- eratin the hoist, a water tankassociated with the drum and movable therewith upon tilting of thelatter, lock means for the hoist, operating instrumentalities to preventoperation of the latter until the drum has been rotated a predeterminednumber of rotations, a device for causing rotation of the drum, acontrol therefor, and means associated with the water tank forpreventing operation of the drum rotating control means until thecontents of said tank have been emptied into the drum.

8. Means as set forth in claim 7, in which the last mentioned meansinvolves connections between the water tank mechanism and for compellinga certain number of rotations of the drum before it can be discharged,means for causing discharge of the drum, and means for setting thetiming device into operation initiated by the actuation of the meanswhich connects the drum rotating means with the power source.

10. A machine as set forth in claim 9, combined with water tank meansfor supplying 'water to the drum and in which the disinstriunentalityfor rum from the power reventing said rotation until the 1:; means hassupplied a proper 1 t0 the cirum.

cenirol mechanism for truck mix- Eien, trues a mixing drum iiiereen, a.heiss connected with the reel; the same to discharge it, a ne u'ce onthe truck drum rotating en means fer connecting the. drum means with thepower source, inopereting lever and a timing deer eniyelling a certainnumber of 10- te operation by actunder the clutch means has been inoperation length 0f time. v chine -s-ibsentie1y {LS set forth iicombined with Water supply the drum and eenneetinns between supply meansand said iever to con-- e level" and 'mevent leans from being renderedactive i if ied to the drum gregates therein.

1 1115211 for truck mi ruek, a mixing drum connect the drum the newersource, an

drum rotating M clutch means, a qssecieied with the drum to supei'eie,an interlock between the nb: means and operating device 'ihe eperatingdevice cannot be 0pi use reteiien of the drum until controlled to in,ind means fer v of Water to fine eontrel of

